Man, 20, Fatally Shot at Party

A 20-year-old North Hollywood man was fatally shot Sunday during a face-off between two groups of youths at a dance party, police said.

Esteban de los Santos was shot in the abdomen and back about 1 a.m. outside Club Azteca, a dance hall near Cumpston Street and Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood, Los Angeles Police Detective Mike Coffey said. De los Santos was taken to Medical Center of North Hollywood, where he died shortly after 6:30 a.m.

De los Santos was caught up in a confrontation that apparently began as a dispute between two girls at a teen-age coming-out party at the dance hall, Coffey said. The argument was taken up by two groups of boys--one group consisting of about a dozen gang members--who went outside the dance hall and began a fistfight, Coffey said.

Police had arrested two youths, ages 15 and 16, by late Sunday afternoon, Coffey said.